“It goes fast,” said Christopher, who’s 8, “like, over ten miles per hour, at least.”

It was the day freedom came to kid-dom, and it changed everything.

“I think we all remember the first time that we got our own bike,” said Sheri McMichael of the Children’s Variety Club, “and that sense of ‘Wow! I can ride down the street, or I can ride down the block, or I can ride to my friend’s house!”

At her roast this spring, attorney Roxanne Conlin channeled donations through the Variety Club to needy children at some of her apartment complexes.

“She wanted to set aside some dollars that would benefit some of the kids that had not had a bike before,” McMichael says, “so that these kids could have their own brand new bike, helmet and lock.”

Well, Christopher did have a bike before, but…

“My last bike, it didn’t come out very well,” he admits.

But this time, he and the others get some lessons, too.

“You’re promising to ride your bike,” said a Variety Club worker, reciting the short agreement each child signed before accepting the new bike, “you’re gonna wear your helmet, and you’re gonna lock up your bike. So ride safely, okay?”

Hands on grips, feet on pedals, tushes on the cushions – 52 bikes and kids joined forces and made big plans.